Climate change is disrupting water systems across the United States, impacting communities of all sizes and financial stature. The effects can be particularly devastating in rural areas that lack the infrastructure and resources needed to manage their water resources. Droughts, floods, and wildfires continue to grow in both frequency and intensity, causing economic losses and threatening historic livelihoods and homelands.
To improve water quality and develop and fortify community-based infrastructure, ̽̽ and several partner institutions across the country have been awarded $6 million as part of a by the National Science Foundation to build climate resilience capacity through its .
The recently announced EPSCoR investment supports 14 projects across 21 jurisdictions. It aims to strengthen research capacity and broaden STEM education opportunities in states that have traditionally received lower levels of funding.
"Every part of our nation has been impacted by the changing climate. We build a sustainable future for all by investing in climate resilience research and solutions across our country," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "By empowering researchers from different EPSCoR jurisdictions and enabling collaborations across diverse institutions from the Mountain West to the Gulf Coast, from the Southwest to the mid-Atlantic and New England and beyond, we are driving innovation that fosters STEM opportunities, economic growth and climate resilient communities."
̽̽ is partnering locally with and with institutions and communities in South Dakota and New Mexico on a 4-year project titled Advancing Quality and Climate-Resilient Water Management with Community Partnerships and Enhanced Sensor Network (AQUA-CLIME). Along with the , the , , and the , the researchers are partnering closely with both Indigenous and farming communities.
By leveraging their shared knowledge, the project aims to develop affordable water monitoring systems to address water quantity and quality issues affecting these typically underserved communities. The $6 million investment for the AQUA-CLIME project will be shared among the three regions, with ̽̽ targeted to receive just over $2.7 million in funding.
“Climate change is affecting all communities across the U.S. and globally, causing water shortages for drinking and agricultural uses. These issues are especially challenging for communities that lack the proper infrastructure and resources to monitor and treat water,” said Dr. Appala Raju Badireddy, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the at ̽̽. “We are focusing on several communities whose water systems are particularly vulnerable to climate change— flooding in Vermont, droughts in South Dakota, wildfires in New Mexico. We will learn from these communities and will develop the sensors that are required to monitor the contaminants in their water."
While the technology currently exists to accurately test and monitor water resources, the devices are cost-prohibitive to employ by rural communities on the scale needed to build reliable management systems. According to Badireddy, who is serving as the principal investigator on the project, a single sensor built to detect one indicator of water quality, such as pH levels, can cost over $500.
By contrast, Badireddy and his team are using nanotechnology to develop multi-electrode sensor boxes that will allow them to measure multiple compounds—up to 16 different constituents—using technology that will cost nearly half ($250-300) of what the currently available single sensor devices do.
̽̽ post-doctoral research associate has been working with Badireddy to develop sensors that are printed onto a substrate in the same way that text can be printed onto a sheet of paper. Dehabadi, whose ongoing research at ̽̽ has been funded by the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH)—a national consortium using community water resources modeling to improve flood forecasting and its impact on social, economic, and behavioral sciences.
“Using these printers, we can produce an excellent sensor element on which we can place molecules that can selectively bind to the species that we are interested in, said Badireddy. “It's much like printing words on paper, except we print advanced sensors at a very low cost.”
Since the sensors themselves are relatively simple and low-cost to produce, they can target contaminants specific to the region in which they are deployed. In South Dakota, for example, mining has introduced dangerous contaminants such as mercury, lead, and arsenic. By contrast, in Vermont, researchers might target more commonplace nutrients such as phosphates, ammonium, and nitrates, as well as manmade chemicals such as microplastics and those known as PFAS—which stands for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.
Called “forever chemicals” because they are nearly indestructible, PFAS are costly and difficult to destroy. They generally only break down into smaller and smaller contaminants that can easily find their way into our water supply. Very toxic in even the smallest levels, PFAS are ubiquitous in our modern lives—from providing non-stick surfaces in our cookware to waterproofing our raincoats.
While much of the chemistry involved in sensor development is being done in Badireddy’s lab, the research requirements of the project are widely interdisciplinary and involve the collaboration of colleagues in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, who are leading researchers in their fields.
For example, Dr. Tian Xia and his team of students in Electrical and Computer Engineering are developing the electronics needed to make the sensors operational. To process and understand the large volume of data generated by an array of sensors, Badireddy’s team is collaborating with Computer Science Associate Professor Dr. Nick Cheney to develop tools using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The researchers recognize that while they have the technical expertise to develop new water sensor technologies and interpretive algorithms, the indigenous knowledge of the communities they hope to support is a critical component of the research. To help build and expand community partnerships, the team relies on their colleagues in Civil and Environmental Engineering, like Research Assistant Professor Dr. Elizabeth Doran, whose expertise in social-ecological systems and land use will be integral to improving water quality and quantity issues.
Benefiting from its strengths as a land-grant institution, the university's researchers will also partner with their colleagues across campus, including Research Associate Professor Dr. Joshua Faulkner, who coordinates the Farming and Climate Change Program in the ̽̽ Extension’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and Dr. Leon Walls, Associate Professor of Education, in the College of Education and Social Services (CESS).
Through intensive research collaboration that centers community outreach and partnerships, the AQUA-CLIME project hopes to create a climate change research network involving people, equipment, and technology. In total, the project estimates that it will support career and educational development for about 350 people, including 25 faculty researchers, 12 graduate students, 25 undergraduates, and 300 middle and high school students.
Funding for the AQUA-CLIME project arrives at an opportune time for the University. This past week, Interim President Patty Prelock announced the launch of ̽̽’s Planetary Health Initiative. The campus-wide initiative looks to harness ̽̽’s existing strength in the health of human societies and the natural environment across the areas of education, interdisciplinary research, policy, outreach, and service.
“Planetary health has always been an integral focus for the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences,” said CEMS Acting Dean Mandar Dewoolkar, “We are delighted to be a key player in this latest round of EPSCoR funding that will expand and deepen our commitment to people and planet while providing new community-based opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate student research.”